IV Pole Christmas Tree

                    Guy and I were in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit over Christmas 2007.

When Guy's nurses were adjusting his IV pole it looked like they were decorating a Christmas tree.  It even had  twinkle lights. At one point Guy had two IV poles and well over twenty IV bags. Notice the IV hooks form a star at the top.

TRANSFORMATION ON THE TRANSPLANT FLOOR

GUY'S TRANSFORMATION

   Once you have committed to a stem cell transplant you are admitted to The Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant floor.'    
   Then two major things happen :
        (1)   You are tethered to an IV pole that will be your constant companion, best friend and weapon for the fight.  It is sometimes your walking stick for balance and sometimes your dancing partner. This is good.
        (2)   Second your looks will began to change at least for a while and this will force you to sort  your priorities.  Your vanities will dissolve into understanding & compassion for all others.  This is good.
    You have already seen Guy with his IV pole so now I'll show you his transformation.  We had a web site at the time where I posted his progress.  When he lost the hair on his head and grew a beard instead our daughter gave him a ear ring and posted his picture. We received so many comments that we held a contest and asked people to vote on the website if they liked his ear ring or not. The women loved it and the men hated it.  Of course it was a clip-on.  Frankly I liked it!
   

DAILY ELEVATOR LAPS

Walking to the elevators and back was a lap.  The doctors required that you get out of bed and move.  The goal was 15 laps a day.  Of course his IV pole had to go with him.  He got to where he would give HER a spin, I mean give IT a spin at the elevators when he turned around.  She stuck to him closer than a brother.  Guy was very committed to his "Vator" laps which helped him keep up his strength and gave him a focus.   Don't think the laps were easy.  He had to work up to 15 over time.  First he made it half way to the elevators and sat down before returning to our room. Later he made it all the way to the elevators, sat down for a rest and then returned.    Then he advanced to three full laps a day and finally 15 laps a day.  Make a lap and take a nap, make a lap and take a nap.  You get the idea.

MY COZY SPACE IN GUYS HOSPITAL ROOM

                 This was my space in Guy's 12 x 15 room for ten months.  It was small but had its advantages.  Everything I needed was within reach and on one was likely to sit on me or target me for a shot. However that almost happened when we were napping together in his bed one day and he woke up before I  did.  He decided to go for a brief walk in the hall.  A new nurse was on the floor that day and came in our room to see only my hair sticking out from the covers and no IV pole.  Loud voices woke me up questioning, "who is this in the bed and where is the IV pole?

JOURNEY OF A STEMCELL TRANSPLANT TO FIGHT LEUKEMIA

JOINT VENTURE

                                                           WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER
                                                 THE STEM CELL TRANSPLANT PROCESS
 My name is Cynthia Powers. This blog is about my husband Guy and his battle with Leukemia.  In 2004 Guy was diagnosis with Mylophybrosis, a rear form of blood cancer that advanced into AML which is a very rapid Leukemia.  He was given two weeks to live and sent to Metro City Cancer Center for an adult stem cell transplant.  This resulted in a ten month hospital stay.
     (1)  Guy was given strong Chemo in an IV for several days to completely clean out his bone marrow of diseased stem cells.  (The stem cells in your bone marrow  have the job to make your blood.)
     (2)   At the same time a global search was working to find the closest DNA match to be his adult stem cell donor.  Once the best donor match is located his stem cells must be harvested and sent from around the globe if necessary to Metro City Cancer Center.
     (3)   When Guy's bone marrow is clean and ready for the transplant the donor cells need to be on hand and ready to be transplanted into Guy.
     (4)    The transplant itself is almost a non event. The donor stem cells are put in an IV bag and injected into Guy's blood stream, just like a blood transfusion.  The stem cells look like a bag of banana pudding, thick, a bit lumpy and butter yellow.  A bag of pure gold for sure.

    This story is our experience with Leukemia and the stem cell transplant process.  Maybe this will  ease the anxiety for someone facing the same.  Only the names have been changed to protect our privacy.  This was a Joint Venture and we were in to win.